How to Score Amex Travel Points Through Rakuten

The shopping portal isn't just for getting cash back.

A woman surrounded by packages while online shopping.

While shopping with credit cards can earn you miles or points towards travel, Rakuten may be taking your earning power to a whole new level.

The online shopping portal which is mainly known for its ability to give cash back while online shopping, can also lead to travel perks for American Express cardholders — a “hack” of sorts that’s recently made its way to TikTok.

“I buy all of my travel through here,” TikTok user Chloe Jades said in her post explaining that that she earned 400,000 Amex points this year alone by having her Rakuten rewards converted to American Express Membership Rewards points. 

To score the same perks, opt for Membership Rewards Points in Rakuten's settings menu (either on desktop or the app). You'll then be able to link your American Express account, and then any future Rakuten Cash Back on purchases will be credited to your Amex account.

And for past purchases? 

“Confirmed Cash Back earned before switching to points will be converted to points and transferred to your American Express Account on the next payment date,” according to Rakuten’s policy. 

Travel points will also be rewarded at the same rate at which a user would receive cash back. For example, you can get 2 percent cash back when you shop at Sephora or Gap, or even up to 15 percent at retailers like Neiman Marcus. With American Express option turned on and linked, that same percentage will be used to calculate Membership Rewards Points. (So if a retailer is providing 8 percent cash back, you’ll get 8 Amex points per dollar spent.)

“It doesn’t make sense to be booking from the websites and not booking through Rakuten,” Jades said. “There’s literally no difference.”

Amex works with a ton of travel partners that have at least a 1:1 transfer rate for rewards to miles or points, though its many partners offer more.

For 1,000 Amex points, you can get 1,000 Delta Air Lines Miles or 1,000 Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles and the list goes on. You can also use it for their hotel partners, with different redemption ratios. For example, 1,000 Amex points will give you 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points, but 1,000 Amex points will give you 2,000 Hilton Honors Points.